I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! We did. I actually worked on Christmas Eve from 12-10, which was kind of a bummer. However, I am paid double for holidays, and we had plenty of Christmas on Christmas Day and the day after, so it was okay. My son was very excited about his new sled, but unfortunately we don’t have any snow…..He also really likes his wooden car carrier truck.

I usually leave our Christmas tree up until New Year’s, but this year I took it down the day after Christmas. Christmas was over and I felt ready to move onto the New Year! My husband is a teacher, so he is home this week. I have a light work week, so we are trying to get some projects done. I have been in a nesting mood for a few weeks, but because of Christmas preparations, decorating, baking, shopping, wrapping, etc, I haven’t had a chance to do anything productive with the mood. Today we worked on organizing our basement and storage area (which includes 1000s of pieces of sheet music). Friday we are going to paint our room and bathroom, which we never got around to when we moved in (four years ago).

Baby Girl has been moving quite a bit, which I think is probably the best thing about pregnancy. I love feeling her tiny kicks and jabs. My husband has been able to feel her movements from the outside as well. He usually responds by pushing back in the same place she kicked. We have started talking about names, and we have it pretty well narrowed down. My husband vetoes a lot of current and former students names, so our choices are a bit limited. We are down to Cameron or Lauren. We both like these names, and while my husband has taught a few Laurens and a Kami, the experience did not make him loathe the names If we picked Cameron, my husband would want her to be called Cameron. He does not like Cami or Cama (both of which, I think are cute). I don’t think you can expect the child or her friends or teachers or coaches to not shorten the name to a common nickname, so I think we will probably go with Lauren. We haven’t discussed middle names yet.

I have been feeling great! Except for increasing pressure on my bladder, I really can’t think of anything to complain about. I am pretty sure I am getting bigger. I have had two strangers (one was a lady at the gym, the other was a patient) ask me if I am pregnant. It’s nice to know that I look pregnant and not just chubby

Exercise: two 30 minute runs and a class at the gym. I also lifted a few free weights after my treadmill run, but it wasn’t enough to count as a strength work-out. (I have actually always really really disliked lifting weights; I know it’s good for me, but I would rather run.)

Weight: 131 pounds (up one for the week and 16 for the pregnancy). I have a feeling next week might be ugly after all of the holiday cookies have a chance to settle in.